THEORIES OF SEMANTIC CHANGE:

THEORIES OF SEMANTIC CHANGE:

Three Approaches from the First Half of the 20th century1
Peter G. Riddell
1.0 Introduction
As a carry-over from the heyday of Historical and Comparative Linguistics of
the 19th century, some linguists in the early 20th century maintained an active
interest in language change of various forms: phonological, semantic and
syntactic. However, the increasing priority of synchronic over diachronic
linguistics as a result of the work of De Saussure and the Structuralists
pushed the study of language change from centre-stage to the margins of
modern linguistics. Thus the work of those linguists who doggedly maintained
a commitment to diachronic linguistics in a new era focusing on synchronic
linguistics is deserving of study.
This paper will place particular attention on three scholars whose interest was
semantic change: Antoine Meillet (1906), who wrote at the turn of the 20th
century, Gustaf Stern who produced a classical study of semantic change in
1931, and Stephen Ullmann (1951) whose career spanned the middle part of
the century. Together their research continues to live on through modern
studies of language change.
The complexity of the task of developing a comprehensive classification
system of semantic change has been recognised by semanticists who have
embarked on this task. Ullmann pointed out that;
"...most semanticists, fully aware of the magnitude of the task ... have
... refrained from advancing any comprehensive and overall formula
covering these forces". (Ullmann 1951:191-2)

This article is an updated version of the first chapter of Peter G Riddell, Semantic Change in

Malay/Indonesian, MA (Qual.) thesis, Australian National University, 1979

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This note of caution makes itself heard repeatedly in the work of the three
authors selected as the focus of this paper.
2.0 The Meillet Model
Meillet was primarily concerned with the ultimate causes of sense change,
and isolated several major causes. Though these were narrowed down to
three in number, he stressed that within each of these areas, there were multidirectional forces working together and against each other resulting in sense
change. He highlights the complexity of the problem when he says:
"...il est souvent - et peut-tre mme le plus souvent - impossible de
dterminer les causes d'un changement de sens particulier..." (Meillet
1905-6:5)
Nevertheless he does say that it is possible to isolate general causes of
sense-change and he presents his three categories in the following order.
Firstly he points to changes which are brought about by primarily linguistic
causes. Examples are the current usage of the French words pas, rien,

personne. These words assumed a negative polarity when used in

conjunction with the negative particle ne. However, in modern spoken French
the ne can be deleted and the above words will maintain their negative
polarity. Thus their semantic content has shifted, as originally they were
positive when used without the particle ne.
Meillet indicates that these types of changes are relatively uncommon. His
second category covers sense variations brought about by changes in the
form of the referent during a period of years. These sense alterations can
affect a large part of the vocabulary of a language but we only notice them
when an unusual association of ideas is made (Meillet 1905-6:11). Thus

plume in French not only means "feather" but also "fountain pen", as ink pens
were originally fashioned by attaching a nib to a feather. Similarly the sense of
the word "ship", ("an ocean going vessel") changed between 1860 and 1960

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due to the change in the form of the referent, although the orthographic
representation has remained constant.
The third and by far the most important cause of semantic change in the view
of Meillet is the contact between different social strata and the lexical
borrowing which results. Meillet devoted most of his article to illustrating the
effects of such contacts. He supports the assertion by Meringer that lexical
items borrowed by the broad speech community from a particular speech
(social) group widen in semantic content, while semantic narrowing is the
result when the reverse occurs (Meillet 1905-6:14). He talks at length of the
linguistic concept of borrowing (l'emprunt) by one language from its linguistic
ancestor. He cites the case of modern French, which contains many lexical
items which have evolved simply from their equivalents in Latin, the language
of Roman Gaul, such as pre, chien and lait. By looking at such examples, we
find cases to demonstrate the Meringer concept of semantic widening and
narrowing, and realise the importance of Meillet's concepts of the role of
social group contact. For example, the Latin verbs ponere (to place), cubare
(to lie asleep), trahere (to draw, drag), mutare (to change) passed from the
general speech community into the rural community over the centuries during
which time a process of semantic narrowing took place. Thus in modern
French the words pondre (to lay eggs), couver (to sit on eggs), traire (to milk a
cow) and muer (to shed the coat, to moult) have developed. The process of
semantic widening can be exemplified by investigating the etymological
history of the modern French verb arracher which was designated in Latin by
the expression ex-radicare meaning tirer la racine (pull out the roots). This
was an expression used by the agricultural community, but with the passage
of time, the sense of the word expanded as it passed into the vocabulary of
the general speech community. Thus today the word is used figuratively in
contexts such as "arracher quelqu'un de son lit" and "arracher de l'argent",
where there is no suggestion of racine.

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Meillet's investigation of semantic movement resulting from contact between

different speech groups (differentiated from each other by social factors)
within a large speech community greatly broadened the scope of the theories
of borrowing. Ullmann (1951:193) points out that a weakness in the Meillet
system is that it fails to provide a separate category for psychological causes
such as taboo, euphemism etc. Meillet himself realised that it was impossible
to establish a water-tight theory of classification, given the complexity of
factors involved. He stressed that there were no clear lines of demarcation
between la langue commune and les langues particulires. There were
constant cross-overs with forces going to and fro between the linguistic
groups, and he goes on to say:
"Les complications qui rsultent du croisement de tous ces faits
d'espces varies sont inextricables d'autant plus que chaque procs
comporte un nombre illimit d'actions autonomes de chacune des trois
espces dfinies au dbut de ce travail" (Meillet 1905-6:34)
3.0 Ullmann's Functional Classification
The next theory of semantic change, labelled the "Functional Classification"
by Ullmann, is designed as a much more comprehensive scheme than the
Meillet model. Ullmann described the roles of Wundt, Schuchardt, Roudet and
Gombocz in the formulation of this system of classification, and presented the
following skeleton scheme of the Functional Classification.
A. Semantic changes due to linguistic conservatism;
B. Semantic changes due to linguistic innovation;
I Transfers of names:
a) through similarity between the senses
b) through contiguity between the senses
II Transfers of senses:
a) through similarity between the names
b) through contiguity between the names
III Composite changes.

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The initial distinction between linguistically conservative changes and those

innovative in nature can be exemplified in the following way. When one
compares the senses of "coach" in the late 19th and late 20th centuries, there
has obviously been quite a considerable shift in the speaker's understanding
of the word, due to the difference in form of the 19th century (stage) "coach"
and the 20th century "coach" (bus). Ullmann would cite this as being a case of
linguistic conservatism, claiming that the identical orthographic representation
of the two means of transport is not due to any similarity which has been
noticed, but rather to differences which have gone unnoticed (Ullmann
1951:211). This type of semantic change parallels Meillet's second category.
Ullmann says that other changes in meaning "are all the outcome of linguistic
innovations, conscious or unconscious, deliberate or involuntary,
accompanied or unaccompanied by extra-linguistic reforms" (Ullmann
1951:211).
Regarding changes resulting from linguistic innovation, some clarification of
terminology would be helpful. Ullmann speaks of "contiguity" as "frequent
occurrences in the same syntagma, but not necessarily immediate vicinity ...
French ne...pas, point, rien..."(Ullmann 1951:239). "Transfer" is used as a
neutral term without any suggestion of intentional/unintentional, gradual/rapid
factors, and "similarity" is used in the same neutral manner.
The category of name transfers through similarity between the senses can be
exemplified by the use of the lexical item "leg" for both a part of the human
body and the part which supports a table. Metaphors and figures of speech
are grouped in this category, as are semantic borrowings between different
languages.
Ullmann indicates that the next category of transfers of names through a
contiguity between the senses is a very common type of semantic change.
Examples of such semantic variations are the use of the word "town" to mean
"inhabitants" and of " sail" to mean " ship" in the following sentences:

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"The whole town was shocked."

"A fleet of 20 sails." (Ullmann 1951:232).
Other linguists refer to this type of sense change as "metonymy".
The Functional Scheme lists transfers of senses through similarity between
the names as the next category. An example cited by Ullmann is the
development of the expression "sand-blind". The expression was originally
sam-blind (from the Latin semi) but over a period of time the phonetically
similar "sand" replaced "sam", so now the semantic content of the expression
is somewhat different from the original. This is also referred to as "folk
etymology" by some linguists.
The next category concerns transfers of senses through contiguity between
the names. This covers semantic changes due to syntagmatic associations
which developed between names occurring frequently in the same context.
The result of such regular association is ellipsis, e.g:
Capital = 1. Capital fund; 2. Capital city; 3. Capital letter (Ullmann
1951:238)
The final category, that of composite transfer, was designed to cover the
many cases, as mentioned by Meillet, of sense changes which could nor be
neatly put into any one of the above-mentioned groupings. This category
included three further subdivisions:
a) Composite name transfers, such as occurs when a name is attached
to a new sense associated with the old sense by bonds of similarity
and of contiguity e.g. Latin;
b) Composite sense transfers, in which phonetic interference causes
two names similar in sound to assume the same meaning; e.g. "to hit
the frog and toad" = "to hit the road";
c) Name - sense transfers. Four types are possible;
(i) Name similarity and sense similarity; e.g. "hard" - "hardly";
(ii) Name similarity and sense contiguity; e.g. "belfry" (see 4.4);

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(iii) Name contiguity and sense similarity; e.g. "High Church" (see 4.4);
(iv) Name contiguity and sense contiguity; e.g. "a Rembrant" = "a
painting by R"
The Functional Scheme is clearly far more comprehensive in scope than the
Meillet model, although that is not a criticism in itself of the latter as it was not
presented as being anything more than an outline of the ultimate causes of
semantic change. The functional scheme has more in common with the Stern
model for several reasons: they both aim at being comprehensive, with a
system of sub-categories which attempts to accommodate the great variety of
sense changes; they both consider psychological processes as central to
sense change; and several of their categories are almost identical in nature, if
bearing different names.
4.0 Stern's Empirical System
The great advantage of the Stern system of classification, labelled the
"Empirical" system by Ullmann, is that it was formulated after a collection and
investigation of "a vast array of factual evidence viewed against a rich
theoretical background" (Ullmann 1951:246). Lyons also testifies to the
scientific nature of Stern's system of codification (Lyons 1977:104). Ullmann
indicates that the different approaches of the Functional and Empirical
classifications point to the possibility of their being used in conjunction with
each other for mutual reinforcement, considering that the Functional scheme
is essentially deductive and Stern's model essentially empirical.
4.1 Stern drew a fundamental distinction between change and fluctuation. He
was mainly concerned with the psychological processes at work in sense
change, and indicated the great individual variations in the way these
processes worked. As an example, he speaks of the different apprehension of
the word "kodak" held by a camera expert and the ordinary home
photographer. What to the former is a machine which has an intricate series
of processes and mechanisms is a mere instrument of recording a visual
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scene to the latter. Stern does not view this as a sense change, but a mere
fluctuation. He speaks of fluctuations in the apprehension of the referent, in
occasional specialisation and in the factual variations of the referent, and
stresses that these must be distinguished from actual changes of meaning.
4.2 Stern sees meaning as being a triangular notion with each corner of the
triangle being an essential factor for completion of meaning. Meaning is
dependent upon its relation to the referent, the subject (speaker or hearer)
and the word itself, these relationships being called the referential, subjective
and verbal relations respectively. If one of the relations shifts, then there is a
corresponding variation in the other two relations. Six of Stern's categories of
sense change are regarded as being results of modifications in these
relations, as shown below.
Stern isolates seven classes of sense change, and organises them into the
following scheme:
A. External causes
(Class I Substitution)
B. Linguistic causes
i. Shift of Verbal Relation
a. Class II Analogy; b. Class III Shortening
ii. Shift of Referential Relation
a. Class IV Nomination; b. Class V Transfer
iii. Shift of Subjective Relation
a. Class VI Permutation; b. Class VII Adequation
4.3 He distinguishes the first class, substitution, from the others by indicating
that it is due to non-linguistic factors. This distinction parallels the linguistic
conservatism versus linguistic innovation dichotomy of the Functional system.
Stern isolates three types of substitution (Stern 1931:192ff):
a) A factual change in the referent, causing sense change in words
such as "ship" and plume during the course of time;

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b) A change in our knowledge of the referent, although the referent

remains unchanged, instanced by such words as "electricity", "solar
system", "atom";
c) A change in our attitude to the referent often brings about sense
change. The emotive response has diminished over the years in words
such as "Home Rule", "Woman's suffrage".
4.4 The first of the six categories of sense change brought about by linguistic
factors is analogy. Stern indicates that analogy is as important in semantics
as it is in the morphological system, though he concerns himself with the
former. He distinguishes three types of analogy:
a) Combinative analogy , which he defines as "sense loans from
cognate words in the same language"(Stern 1931:218). The noun
derived from the verb "revert" was originally "reversion" while that from
the verb "reverse" was "reversal". However, it appears that the more
common usage of the noun ending "-ion" has caused "reversion" to be
considered as the noun for "reverse".
b) Correlative analogy. This can develop due to influences within one
language or due to cross-language forces. "High" in the phrase "High
Church" signifies "extreme" or " intense". Stern states that the phrase
"Low Church" probably developed as a result of analogy.
Similarly "arrive" in English and arriver in French are almost exactly
corresponding in meaning. However the signification "to attain
success" of the French verb was not originally a feature of the English
verb. Due to analogical processes occurring in the minds of bilingual
speakers this meaning attached itself to "arrive" over the course of
time.
c) Phonetic Associative interference. The word "belfry" originally meant
"a tower used in attacking fortresses". Because of the resemblance of
the first syllable to "bell", it came to denote "a church tower housing
bells".

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4.5 Stern's third category of sense change, shortening, parallels the "name
contiguity" category of the Functional scheme. He makes a distinction
between the clipping of symbols and the total omission of symbols. While
citing many instances of clippings (e.g. perambulator -> pram, brigantine ->
brig) he says that he could not find a single instance where clippings led to
sense change.
The case is different with omissions, however. Very often a member of a
compound expression is omitted and the remaining member has to carry the
signification of its former partner, This can result in a change of word class as
well as a change of sense. An example is the development of the noun
"private" from the noun phrase "private soldier", where the original noun is
deleted and the adjective has assumed its semantic and syntactic roles.
4.6 Nomination is Stern's fourth class of sense change and refers to the
intentional action by a speaker of allocating to a referent a name which has
not been used with the referent previously. Metaphors and figures of speech
fall into this category, and such novel uses of words are often due to a desire
on the part of the speaker to make the listener feel particular emotions on
receiving the message. Examples are "sky-pilot" for a clergyman, "sawbones"
for a surgeon, "inkslinger" for a writer, where the intention is to arouse
humour. Poetic metaphors are similarly designed to arouse certain emotions
and images. Euphemism also falls into this category, caused by ancient
taboo, considerations of delicacy or good breeding, or a desire to avoid
offending or wounding the hearer. The use of expressions such as "departed",
"fallen asleep", or "gone" in place of "die" are examples of such euphemisms.
The last type of nomination to be mentioned is irony, or stating the opposite of
what is meant, as instanced by saying "You are a fine fellow" when in fact the
speaker believes and wants to imply the contrary.
4.7 The fifth category distinguished in Stern's empirical scheme is that of
regular transfers. In fact the final three categories -- transfer, permutation and
adequation -- all result from unintentional actions and psychological

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processes on the part of the speaker. The regular transfer signifies "the
unintentional use of a word to denote another referent than the usual one,
owing to some similarity between the two referents"(Stern 1931:340). It is a
common feature of all languages, and can be illustrated in English by the use
of "leaves" to refer to thin objects resembling a leaf, the use of "sharp" in the
phrase "sharp sight", and "light" meaning "merry" or "cheerful", where the idea
of having a light load has been transferred to the mental sphere, and refers to
being lightly burdened in terms of problems and worries.
4.8 A shift in the subjective apprehension of the referent is responsible for
unintentional transfers and sense changes in the sixth category of the
empirical system, called permutation by Stern. The factor which distinguishes
permutation and adequation from transfers is that where the former is
concerned, there are two referents which have similar properties which
provide the focus for the transfer. In the latter two categories, however, there
is only one referent with several characteristics so that with a change in
apprehension on the part of the speaker the focus of attention moves from
one characteristic to another and the sense change thus occurs.
Stern cities as an example the shift in semantic content of the word "bead".
The word originally meant "prayer" in an expression such as "she is counting
her beads on the rosary". As people were praying, they counted off one of the
little balls on the rosary, so that now we have lost the sense of "bead"
meaning "prayer". Although the permutation has altered the sense of the word
"bead", the expression "to count one's beads" still adequately represents the
notion of counting the rosary.
Stern presents a vast array of sub-types which he found in the category of
permutations. He groups them under traditional grammatical word classes:
Nouns
1) Object's names (concrete and abstract)

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Examples are objects which take their name from the material from
which they are made, such as is the case with "brass" (= instrument +
metal). There are also instances of the designation of a receptacle
passing to its contents, as instanced by the use of "tub" to refer to the
contents of a tub, or " the water for bathing".
2) Nomina Actionis
A type found frequently in this category is that in which the name shifts
from the action to the product or result of the action. This occurred with
"batch" which originally meant "the process of baking" but came to
mean "the quantity of bread produced at one baking". Similarly the
name can move from the action to the agent of the action, for example
"aid" (action of aiding -> person aiding).
Adjectives and Adverbs
In Middle English faste meant "vigorously". In association with verbs such as
renneth faste it assumed the sense "swiftly" as anybody "running vigorously"
would cover a distance in a short time.
Verbs
"To soothe" was related to "sooth" (true) and assumed the sense "to declare
to be true" (= to support a person in an assertion).
All the above are examples of permutations in which the referent has several
characteristics and the speaker's focus of attention moves from one
characteristic to another over a period of time.
4.9 Stern's final category of category of sense change is adequation. This can
occur either after another sense change of the six previously mentioned types
or in isolation. Stern's preferred example of this phenomenon is seen in the
sense change of the word "horn". The original meaning of the word was the "
horn of an animal" but attention has shifted to focus upon its role as an
instrument. The adequation was represented by the shift in focus to the
purpose rather than the simple characteristic nature of "horn". The speaker's

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manner of perception of the referent shifted and it was possible henceforth to

apply the word "horn" to a multitude of instruments which had a similar
musical role to the animal's horn.
5.0 Conclusion
The greater emphasis on synchronic rather than diachronic linguistics in the
20th century has meant that fields of study focussing on the diachronic, such
as etymology and semantic change, have been somewhat pushed from the
centre stage of modern linguistics and have lost some of their momentum in
terms of new theoretical perspectives.
Nevertheless, analytical frameworks such as the Meillet, Stern and Ullmann
systems remain useful to modern linguistic analysis. One can find recent
studies of semantic change which draw on these models; for example, Silva's
study of semantic change in the Old and New Testaments based itself upon
the Ullmann scheme (Silva 1994).
Thus it is hoped that this paper will stimulate others to apply these
frameworks in a range of contexts, and perhaps even serve to generate
additional theoretical perspectives on the field of semantic change.
References
Lyons, J. Semantics, Cambridge, 1977
Meillet, A. "Comment les Mots Changent de Sens", L'Anne Sociologique,
1905-6
Silva, M. Biblical Words and their Meaning, 2nd edition 1994
Stern, G. Meaning and Change of Meaning, 1931 (reprinted Indiana Univ.
1965)
Ullmann, S. The Principles of Semantics, Oxford, 1951
Peter G. Riddell 1999

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